'Much Ado,' 'Sunshine Boys' On Guthrie Schedule

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- The Guthrie Theater plans a mix of Shakespeare, a Tennessee Williams classic and a Neil Simon comedy in its next season.

The Guthrie on Monday announced 14 plays for its 2011-2012 season. The season kicks off with Shakespeare's comedy "Much Ado About Nothing" on the Minneapolis theater's thrust stage in September.

Williams' drama "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" will be produced on the Guthrie stage for the first time since 1975.

Simon's "The Sunshine Boys" will conclude the new season. Guthrie veterans Raye Birk and Peter Michael Goetz will play retired vaudeville comedians who are persuaded to reunite.

The new Guthrie season also includes the American premiere of "End of the Rainbow," a musical drama about the last days of singer Judy Garland.

And "A Christmas Carol" returns for its 37th year at the Guthrie.

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